Richard Hill: Disappointed with performance

Assistant coach Alex Sanderson praised his players after an under-strength Saracens qualified for the semi-finals of the LV= Cup.

Sarries earned a hard-fought 22-12 victory over Worcester at Sixways.

Saracens pipped London Irish to top Pool Three and probably face an away semi-final when the competition resumes in the middle of March.

They scored an excellent early try through the outstanding Ernst Joubert, but had to rely on the goal-kicking skills of scrum-half Ben Spencer for the remainder of their points.

"This group of players don't normally play and they are ring rusty, but

they did extremely well today as it is now eight out of nine wins for us and this one over Worcester, our bogey team," Sanderson said.

The win gives Saracens every chance of winning three trophies this season and Sanderson added: "We want to be greedy and win all three.

"The best sides in history have won all three and that is what we aim to do."

A near full strength Worcester gave a performance which disappointed their coach Richard Hill.

"I didn't expect that performance today and I can't really understand it," Hill said.

"We made a very sloppy start and allowed them to walk in their first try. There were a lot of missed tackles and the first-half performance was not what was required."

Worcester rallied in the second half but they could not get on terms and ill-discipline proved costly.

"We gave them a soft lead and Saracens are past masters at closing the game out," Hill added.

"We picked up in the second half and our attacking game continues to progress but we gave away 19 penalties which is not acceptable."

Next week the Aviva Premiership resumes when Worcester travel to Bath and Hill added: "We are going to have to produce something special next weekend.

"Bath are in form, however we can win down there but we are considerable underdogs. We have to draw a line under these two poor LV= Cup performances."